1949 Le Poulain 50cc Model A – Cycle Attachment
Wherever I take it, this machine always attracts stares. It certainly has an outlandish appearance.
I’ve always liked le Poulain cyclemotors. The company was a well-respected upmarket manufacturer. The first le Poulain of 1949 was this front-mounted design. Later they developed engines to fit in the conventional moped position: on page 112, you can see my new-old-stock 1952 Select 52 moped, which uses the later le Poulain engine.
The company started producing their range of ‘moteurs auxiliaires’ in 1949, and the Model A was the first model.
Unlike some of the other engines fixed over the front wheel, le Poulain is a well-balanced machine.
The only design faults I’ve found in these units is that the original gear levers used to rock the roller-wheel down onto the front tyre have nearly always disintegrated over the half a century they’ve been in existence. You’ll observe a re-manufactured set-up on this one, on the left side of the engine (above).
This Model A was restored in 2007, and the attractive bicycle matches the engine’s interesting ‘fifties futuristic’ style. I’ve never tried to start it. It will probably need a bit of fiddling to get it running.
The follow-up models were introduced after only one year, so the Model A is now particularly scarce.
Same female rider but different engine. Above is the Model A; below you can see the Standard and Luxe models of 1950.
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1950 le Poulain Monobloc Standard and Luxe
Compare the ‘Standard’ model in the advert above with the ‘Luxe’ in the advert below.
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